Mystic Pizza | A Movie Tour | Recreating The Iconic Film’s Famous Scenes

Mystic Pizza (The 1988 film known as being the movie that introduced us to the talent of Julia Roberts) became an instant classic, especially in New England. The coming of age story of three young women; Daisy, Jojo, and Kat played by Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, and Annabeth Gish, living in Mystic Connecticut and working at Mystic Pizza will warm your heart. It was written by movie editor Amy Holden Jones in the mid 80’s while visiting the area. Unfortunately, being a woman in the 80’s, she was not given the opportunity to direct the film she wrote. Although she didn’t direct the film, she gave the story heart. Locals view it as a love letter to Mystic; which also captured the beautiful local scenery and the history of downtown Mystic in early autumn of 1988. Many of these places still exist today.

I first saw the film here and there at Mystic Pizza as a kid. My father would take me to Mystic as it was one of our favorite local towns and we would stop into Mytstic Pizza for lunch. To this day I still order “the cheeser” calzone when I visit. It wasn’t until I was living out of state after college that I saw film from start to finish. Missing my home of Connecticut, I watched the film and was overjoyed to see some of my favorite locations in the movie including Mystic Pizza, the Mystic River drawbridge, and numerous spots around town and nearby Stonington and Noank, like Ford’s Lobsters. I knew right away that I wanted to follow the footsteps of the film one day like a tour based off the famous film, of course eating plenty of pizza long the way.

When I started my Connecticut Charm series upon moving back to Connecticut, the idea transformed. And thanks to the incredible Mystic Pizza of Mystic Connecticut, that idea became a reality. I want to give a special thank you to Faye of Mystic Pizza who allowed me to spend a morning at Mystic Pizza to capture these images and also a special thank you to the incredible staff of Mystic Pizza, including Ghyslaine, Max, Elizabeth, Makenzy, and Julia for modeling for these scene recreations and for welcoming me into Mystic Pizza for this photo shoot. I had a wonderful time learning more about Mystic Pizza as it is today and their knowledge of the film was invaluable when recreating the iconic scenes. The movie plays around the restaurant on repeat all day so I’m sure that no one knows the movie better than the staff at Mystic Pizza.

Mystic Pizza has been family owned since 1973 by the Zelepos family and being at the restaurant feels like a family too. To recreate these scenes I visited the places in Mystic where the movie was filmed. I also studied the many photos on the wall at Mystic Pizza. The film stills found in this post were found online and belong to the film Mystic Pizza.

To recreate these scenes, I travelled to the popular destinations in the film and also photographed and edited the images in a late 1980’s style with 80’s film colors and film grain. Although the lighting and color balance of the photos differs from that of the film, I’m happy with the soft film-like images from Mystic. For just a short while it did feel like stepping back into time and stepping into the movie itself.

The restaurant in the film was actually not filmed on location (it was filmed on a set at a shop on Water Street in Stonington, which is now a yacht club, because they could not close the restaurant down during filming as it would hurt business). As a professional wedding photographer it did hurt my pride a little to use direct on camera flash, but I am happy with the outcome of the images and I hope it captured the spirit of the 1988 film. Allow me to take you on a movie tour. You can visit these places yourself the next time you are in Mystic.

We start our Mystic Pizza film tour of Mystic with Mystic Pizza itself. Even today, tourists visit from all over the country to see Mystic Pizza for themselves. While I was taking these photos several tourists stopped by to pose in front of the building. Because this is the place that started it all, it only makes sense to begin our tour here. From Mystic Pizza, let me take you on a photographic journey through downtown to the Mystic River Drawbridge.

It is easy to see why Mystic and Mystic Pizza inspired the movie all those years ago.

 

This is the spot where Jojo and the girls stood as Jojo’s fiance Bill drove his boat through the river after renaming his boat “Nympho” instead of “Jojo” to pull a prank on Jojo.

The Whaler’s Inn is located directly across from the drawbridge and is a great place to stay if you are looking to be close to downtown and within walking distance of Mystic Pizza. As for the movie cast, they stayed at the Mystic Hilton during filming.

Many of the iconic movie scenes are filmed along the river here on the boardwalk next to the drawbridge.

The next stop of the day will take you to Ford’s Lobsters in Noank, just down the road from Mystic. In the film it was the workplace of Daisy and Kat’s mother who worked at a local lobster fishery. You can still visit Ford’s lobsters today for a hot buttery lobster roll. It looks almost exactly the same. I didn’t have a cute moped to drive through like Kat, but I did stop by to walk around the place where Kat brought pizza to her mother and her coworkers at the beginning of the movie.

Unfortunately many of the other locations from the film are currently out of business or have drastically changed. The church at the beginning of the film where Jojo’s wedding takes place is now a private residence instead of a church. Zack’s Bar and Grill was the location for the “Peg Leg Club” where Daisy and the girls played pool and hung out at night. It unfortunately closed last year. The houses where the girls lived and also the country club in the movie are right over the border of Rhode Island in Watch Hill and Westerly. The country club is still the Misquamicut Club in Watch Hill today. If you are staying in town for the day or weekend you can see the planetarium where Kat worked at the Mystic Seaport Museum.

After visiting the seaport and driving around town, I hope you saved some room for some pizza for dinner at Mystic Pizza.

Makenzy, Julia, and Elizabeth are pictured here to recreate the iconic photo of Daisy, Kat, and Jojo.

Order yourself a “slice of heaven.”

A sub-plot of the movie is that the girls don’t know the secret recipe for the sauce used on the pizzas. I never did find out what goes into it. I guess it is a secret you will have to try to discover for yourself.

“Jojo: You know what I wonder?
Daisy: What?
Jojo: What the hell do you think Leona really puts in that pizza?”

Elizabeth and Ghyslaine did a phenomenal job recreating this moment. We had a lot of laughs too.

During the film, Kat is disgusted to find that one of their regulars has left his dentures in his water glass again. He leaves them once more where the food critic finds them in his glass when he comes in to try Mystic Pizza. Julia recreated this moment when she has to pick up the glass with the dentures inside.

 

My goal for creating these photos was to make them look as if they could fit right in with the framed prints from the movie on the walls. I hope I was able to do them justice.

Historic downtown Stonington is also briefly featured in the film if you are looking for a scenic drive while visiting. If you are trying to locate the road where Charlie’s car breaks down and Charlie and Daisy have to hitchhike, then you will find that very same stone wall and set fo trees at the Pequot Trail between Mystic and Stonington. Besides a couple broken branches, the road looks exactly the same. However, it was a lot busier than I imagined! Car after car drove by as I attempted to take these photos in a dress that looked like Daisy’s little black dress.

I wasn’t attempting to hitchhike, but many a car did stop to see what was going on, much to my embarrassment! I think the embarrassment and nervousness is pretty clear on my face, but it was still fun remaking this iconic moment and I still get a good laugh just thinking about it. An older man slowed down his car and hollered out his window, “Julia Roberts once stood there for a movie!” as he drove by.

 

To conclude the Mystic Pizza movie tour, I took a pepperoni pie to the boardwalk overlooking the Mystic Drawbridge. The rain had let up long enough for a nice picnic lunch just in time to watch the drawbridge rise one more time before driving home. I hope that the next time you visit you will stop by Mystic Pizza for a great meal or to pick up a pie to enjoy at the park overlooking the Mystic River.

I imagine that the actresses in the film ate plenty of pizza here too.

If you are planning a visit to Mystic I hope you will make a day of it to see the Olde Mystic Village, walk through downtown, grab a lobster roll at Ford’s Lobsters, and to have some pizza at Mystic Pizza. Stop into the many boutiques and shops in town. See some of the iconic movie locations for yourself. At Mystic Pizza you can look through the photos on the wall to see famous scenes or watch the movie as it replays throughout the day. Perhaps you might recognize some of the locations from your visit.

If you are planning to see the seaport and aquarium, I highly recommend getting the Mystic Pass to save money on entry to both. The pass also comes with special deals and coupons for shops and places in town.

Make sure you stop in at the iconic Mystic Pizza. They continue to serve a slice of heaven to locals and tourists today. Retracing the steps of the actresses of Mystic Pizza was a fabulous way to tour Mystic. I hope that one day soon you will have the chance to retrace their steps as well.

Thank you, Mystic Pizza, for giving me the opportunity to photograph Mystic Pizza this year.